John Cooper
Explorer
KNIGHTLY ORDERS OF ANSALON
By Sean Everette, Nicole Harsch, Clark Valentine, and Trampas Whiteman
Sovereign Press product number SVP-4403
160-page hardcover, $34.99
Let me begin this review by exposing my limited Dragonlance background: I've never read or experienced any of the AD&D 1st Edition adventures, although I do have the AD&D 1st Edition Dragonlance Adventures hardcover. I never read any of the main novels in the series, either; the only ones I've ever read were Kendermore and the two about Kang and his band of draconian engineers. I didn't have any of the current 3E Dragonlance books, either; when Sean Everette contacted me with a list of books they were looking to have reviewed, I chose Knightly Orders of Ansalon (among two others, neither of which was from the Dragonlance campaign) out of curiosity more than anything else. So, I feel I'm pretty well-versed in "the basics" of the Dragonlance campaign world (much of my knowledge having been gleaned from the pages of Dragon magazine over the years), but I'm nowhere near the level of fanatic, and I couldn't tell you much of the recent stuff that's been going on with the most recent novels, other than that there was a Chaos uprising recently on Krynn, the homeworld of the game.
After having read Knightly Orders of Ansalon, I feel like my knowledge has expanded considerably about recent events on Krynn. Despite being a book focused primarily on orders of knights (three main ones, specifically, although there's some generic information in chapter one), quite a bit of "background information" is provided about what's been going on in the novels. I know that many people feel that's a major drawback about the Dragonlance campaign - that there's too much emphasis on the novels being the "true" history and the RPG aspects being tucked quietly in the corners, where they won't interfere - and while I believe that was true of the AD&D 1st edition material, I'm not sure if that has carried on to the present or not. I can say that the authors of Knightly Orders of Ansalon seem to have devoted quite a bit of effort to "document" what's been happening in the novels, so those that worry that the focus is on the novels as opposed to the campaign world may have some cause for concern. (The same is often true over in the Forgotten Realms, where many sourcebooks seem more concerned with documenting what's been happening in the novels than what you might want to use for your own home campaign set in the Realms.) However, that concern aside, there's plenty of material in Knightly Orders of Ansalon to allow you to run your knightly orders however you see fit, regardless of what the novels say.
The cover is a nicely-dome painting by Jason Engle of a mounted blue dragon, with another knight in the foreground raising a lance. (He might be riding a dragon as well, or not - it's hard to tell as he's cut off at waist height.) The proportions (both human and dragon) are very well done, with some intricate details, especially on the breastplates of the armor. I also like the way the dragon's blue scales fade to purple along the wings. The back cover is just a close-up of part of the front cover, but that doesn't matter much as most of it is obscured by a text box (in crumbling scroll form) with the back-cover blurb.
The interior artwork consists of 50 full-color illustrations by 8 different artists. Many of these paintings are very well done, but many of them are rather small, and none of them are captioned. (Not that captioning is required or anything, but I'm afraid I've kind of gotten used to it as it's a Wizard of the Coast standard, and it helps to point out how the painting in question ties in with the material on the page, something that could have helped a few of the illustrations in this book.) I was also a bit disappointed not to have the artists' names attributed to each piece (again, another WotC standard - they usually put the author's name sideways along the outer-page margin, where it isn't obtrusive), as I like to know who did which pieces, and in many cases the artists don't sign their work (or perhaps the part with their signature/initials got cropped off). In any case, my favorites in Knightly Orders of Ansalon include the armored knight on the horse with barding on page 78 (this one was signed; it's by Chris Tackett); the painting of Storm's Keep on page 88; the creepy, blood-drenched woman on page 92; the Blood Oath archer on page 106; the mounted rangers on page 123; and Jennifer Meyer's fog-shrouded duo (one fallen, one still standing) on page 151.
Knightly Orders of Ansalon is laid out as follows:
I feel sorry for the four authors of this book, basically being stuck trying to make such material interesting, when so much of it is a rehash. However, I can place the blame on the current authors (as opposed to Hickman and Weis) for the greatest oversight in the book: Chapter Three, the Dark Knight chapter, does not have the prestige classes for the Knights of the Lily, Knights of the Skull, and Knights of the Thorn! Sure, it's got three different prestige classes, and somewhat interesting ones at that, but for a book specifically about the knights on Ansalon (Ansalon is the main continent on the planet Krynn, where the majority of the action takes place), such an oversight is well-nigh unforgivable, especially considering that so many of the NPC stats in that chapter actually consist of characters with levels in those prestige classes! Even if the three main Dark Knight prestige classes appeared elsewhere, in a different book (which seems somewhat unlikely), you'd think they'd reprint the material here (so all of the knight material would be in the knight book), or at the very least tell the reader where he might go to find such information.
The stats in Knightly Orders of Ansalon were also a bit of a disappointment for me. Again, this being my first 3E Dragonlance book, I'm not aware of many of the classes and prestige classes that many of the NPCs in this book have taken levels in, and as such my "unofficial errata" is not going to be as "tight" as I'd like, since there were big chunks of material in many of the stats that I was unable to verify, not having the appropriate material on hand to check it. Still, with that warning mentioned ahead of time, here's what I did notice during my read through the book:
Finally, there were a few things in Knightly Orders of Ansalon that were simply cringeworthy, like (my favorite example) a pair of white dragons named "Ice" and "Freeze." To me, those names seem more appropriate in an episode of Scooby-Doo than an epic tale of knights fighting dragons for the fate of a planet. Again, I can't fault the four authors of the book for such painful naming conventions; they were stuck with what previous authors have already committed to ink. (Perhaps "carved in stone" would be a more appropriate phrase to use here, if only to denote the permanency with which such decisions last throughout the years.)
Taken as a whole, Knightly Orders of Ansalon seems to do a pretty good job of codifying the material about the three knightly orders in the Dragonlance novels, although the authors' personal creativity may have been severely hampered by the work of previous novelists. The three "flavors" of knightly orders presented in these pages might not be the best three examples of knightly orders for a generic campaign (although the Knights of Solamnia are pretty much a good "generic" knightly order, easily ported to different campaigns), but they do capture the Dragonlance-specific orders fairly well. (The lack of material on the Knights of the Lily, Knights of the Skull, and Knights of the Thorn in the Dark Knights chapter is a glaring oversight along those lines, however.) If you're looking for a book for use with knights in a Dragonlance campaign, this is definitely the book for you. If you were hoping to just use the ideas within to flesh out your own knightly orders for a homebrew campaign, you might want to think twice before forking over $35.00 of hard-earned cash, because probably only half of the book is going to be of much use to you.
I rate Knightly Orders of Ansalon as a mid-to-high "3 (Average)."
By Sean Everette, Nicole Harsch, Clark Valentine, and Trampas Whiteman
Sovereign Press product number SVP-4403
160-page hardcover, $34.99
Let me begin this review by exposing my limited Dragonlance background: I've never read or experienced any of the AD&D 1st Edition adventures, although I do have the AD&D 1st Edition Dragonlance Adventures hardcover. I never read any of the main novels in the series, either; the only ones I've ever read were Kendermore and the two about Kang and his band of draconian engineers. I didn't have any of the current 3E Dragonlance books, either; when Sean Everette contacted me with a list of books they were looking to have reviewed, I chose Knightly Orders of Ansalon (among two others, neither of which was from the Dragonlance campaign) out of curiosity more than anything else. So, I feel I'm pretty well-versed in "the basics" of the Dragonlance campaign world (much of my knowledge having been gleaned from the pages of Dragon magazine over the years), but I'm nowhere near the level of fanatic, and I couldn't tell you much of the recent stuff that's been going on with the most recent novels, other than that there was a Chaos uprising recently on Krynn, the homeworld of the game.
After having read Knightly Orders of Ansalon, I feel like my knowledge has expanded considerably about recent events on Krynn. Despite being a book focused primarily on orders of knights (three main ones, specifically, although there's some generic information in chapter one), quite a bit of "background information" is provided about what's been going on in the novels. I know that many people feel that's a major drawback about the Dragonlance campaign - that there's too much emphasis on the novels being the "true" history and the RPG aspects being tucked quietly in the corners, where they won't interfere - and while I believe that was true of the AD&D 1st edition material, I'm not sure if that has carried on to the present or not. I can say that the authors of Knightly Orders of Ansalon seem to have devoted quite a bit of effort to "document" what's been happening in the novels, so those that worry that the focus is on the novels as opposed to the campaign world may have some cause for concern. (The same is often true over in the Forgotten Realms, where many sourcebooks seem more concerned with documenting what's been happening in the novels than what you might want to use for your own home campaign set in the Realms.) However, that concern aside, there's plenty of material in Knightly Orders of Ansalon to allow you to run your knightly orders however you see fit, regardless of what the novels say.
The cover is a nicely-dome painting by Jason Engle of a mounted blue dragon, with another knight in the foreground raising a lance. (He might be riding a dragon as well, or not - it's hard to tell as he's cut off at waist height.) The proportions (both human and dragon) are very well done, with some intricate details, especially on the breastplates of the armor. I also like the way the dragon's blue scales fade to purple along the wings. The back cover is just a close-up of part of the front cover, but that doesn't matter much as most of it is obscured by a text box (in crumbling scroll form) with the back-cover blurb.
The interior artwork consists of 50 full-color illustrations by 8 different artists. Many of these paintings are very well done, but many of them are rather small, and none of them are captioned. (Not that captioning is required or anything, but I'm afraid I've kind of gotten used to it as it's a Wizard of the Coast standard, and it helps to point out how the painting in question ties in with the material on the page, something that could have helped a few of the illustrations in this book.) I was also a bit disappointed not to have the artists' names attributed to each piece (again, another WotC standard - they usually put the author's name sideways along the outer-page margin, where it isn't obtrusive), as I like to know who did which pieces, and in many cases the artists don't sign their work (or perhaps the part with their signature/initials got cropped off). In any case, my favorites in Knightly Orders of Ansalon include the armored knight on the horse with barding on page 78 (this one was signed; it's by Chris Tackett); the painting of Storm's Keep on page 88; the creepy, blood-drenched woman on page 92; the Blood Oath archer on page 106; the mounted rangers on page 123; and Jennifer Meyer's fog-shrouded duo (one fallen, one still standing) on page 151.
Knightly Orders of Ansalon is laid out as follows:
- Chapter One - Knights of Ansalon: A sort of "overview" or "generic" chapter (and the most valuable for those looking to just pilfer material for their own knightly orders in their homebrew games), covering the qualities of a knight, what they do in wartime and peacetime, how to become a knight, dueling, a knight's equipment and mounts, some basic heraldry rules, plus armiger substitution levels for the noble class (a new class in the Dragonlance campaign, apparently), 14 feats, and 9 magic items
- Chapter Two - Knights of Solamnia: A history of the Knights of Solamnia (covering much of the material in previous novels), its traditions, allies and enemies, quests and trials, and their views on religion, dragons, and magic, followed by three prestige classes (the Knight of the Crown, Knight of the Sword, and Knight of the Rose), substitution levels as a clerist (for a Knight of the Sword interested in casting divine spells) and kingfisher (for a wizard who's a member of the Knights of Solamnia), with sample NPCs of the various prestige classes and some historical, "icon" NPCs.
- Chapter Three - Dark Knights: This chapter is set up in the exact same way as chapter two, but focuses on the Dark Knights; the prestige classes are Adjudicator of the Code, Blood Oath archer, and Vision partisan
- Chapter Four - Legion of Steel: Likewise, this last chapter follows the same exact format as the previous two but focuses on the Legion of Steel; the prestige classes are Legion warrior, Legion mystic, Legion sorcerer, and Legion scout
I feel sorry for the four authors of this book, basically being stuck trying to make such material interesting, when so much of it is a rehash. However, I can place the blame on the current authors (as opposed to Hickman and Weis) for the greatest oversight in the book: Chapter Three, the Dark Knight chapter, does not have the prestige classes for the Knights of the Lily, Knights of the Skull, and Knights of the Thorn! Sure, it's got three different prestige classes, and somewhat interesting ones at that, but for a book specifically about the knights on Ansalon (Ansalon is the main continent on the planet Krynn, where the majority of the action takes place), such an oversight is well-nigh unforgivable, especially considering that so many of the NPC stats in that chapter actually consist of characters with levels in those prestige classes! Even if the three main Dark Knight prestige classes appeared elsewhere, in a different book (which seems somewhat unlikely), you'd think they'd reprint the material here (so all of the knight material would be in the knight book), or at the very least tell the reader where he might go to find such information.
The stats in Knightly Orders of Ansalon were also a bit of a disappointment for me. Again, this being my first 3E Dragonlance book, I'm not aware of many of the classes and prestige classes that many of the NPCs in this book have taken levels in, and as such my "unofficial errata" is not going to be as "tight" as I'd like, since there were big chunks of material in many of the stats that I was unable to verify, not having the appropriate material on hand to check it. Still, with that warning mentioned ahead of time, here's what I did notice during my read through the book:
- p. 62, Sir Hemeric Kolan, male civilized human fighter 4/Knight of the Crown 2: His various melee attacks should be separated by an "or" instead of an "and" as they're all computed as primary attacks. He has 8 feats, but he should only have 7 (3 as a 6th-level character, +1 human bonus feat, +3 fighter bonus feats). It looks as if he spent 25 of 27 skill points.
- pp. 62-63, Lady Janice Thasally, female civilized human fighter 4/Knight of the Crown 7: Masterwork dagger damage should be 1d4+3/19-20, not 1d4+4/19-20 (+3 Str). It looks like she spent 39 of 42 skill points. When using her Strength of Honor class feature, masterwork dagger damage should be 1d4+6/19-20, not 1d4+7/19-20 (+6 Str).
- pp. 64-65, Lady Zora Ocre, female civilized human fighter 6/Knight of the Sword 2: Feats aren't alphabetized, and it looks like she spent 27 out of 33 skill points.
- p. 65, Lord Kenton uth Adamant, male civilized human fighter 6/Knight of the Sword 7: Looks like he spent 40 of 48 skill points.
- p. 67, Sir Bryce Colfax, male civilized human fighter 9/Knight of the Rose 1: Looks like he spent 29 of 39 skill points. He doesn't have the required number of ranks (2) in Knowledge (religion) to meet the prerequisite for the Knight of the Rose prestige class: since his Education feat gives him a +2 bonus, and his Int bonus is +0, he only spent 1 rank in it to bring it up to +3. (Of course, this is easily fixed by spending one of his 10 outstanding skill points accordingly.)
- pp. 67-68, Lady Kirimanne Comitanza, female civilized human fighter 9/Knight of the Rose 6: Will should be +9, not +8 (+3 as Ftr9, +5 as KotR6, +1 Wis). Looks like she spent 44 of 54 skill points. She doesn't have the required number of ranks (2) in Knowledge (religion) to meet the prerequisite for the Knight of the Rose prestige class: since her Education feat gives her a +2 bonus, and her Int bonus is +0, she only spent 1 rank in it to bring it up to +3. (Of course, this is easily fixed by spending one of her 10 outstanding skill points accordingly.) The lady is called "him" in her Aura of Courage description. Her Inspire Greatness description says she can affect 2 allies, but as a Knight of the Rose 6, she can only affect 1.
- p. 70, Sir August Rickard, male civilized human fighter 4/cleric 4 of Kiri-Jolith/Knight of the Sword 4 [Clerist 1/4]: Flat-footed AC should be 24, not 23 (+10 armor, +3 shield, +1 deflection). He has 11 feats, but should only have 9 (5 as a 12th-level character, 1 human bonus feat, 3 fighter bonus feats). Looks like he spent 40 of 45 skill points.
- p. 71, Sir Haley Copperclasp, male civilized human wizard 8 [Kingfisher 5]/Wizard of High Sorcery 2: Initiative should be +3, not +2 (+2 Dex, +1 heroic initiative). He shouldn't have immunity to fear, as that's gained from the wizard 10 substitution level, not he wizard 5 one. Looks like he spent 65 of 66 skill points, but he spent 14 each in Knowledge (arcana) and Spellcraft, and 15 in Knowledge (nobility and royalty), but as a 10th-level character the most he can put into any one skill is 13 points.
- pp. 72-73, Vinas Solamnis, male civilized human noble 4 [armiger 1/3]/fighter 3/Ergothian Cavalier 5/legendary tactician 10: I can't do much with this stat block, not having the Ergothian Cavalier or legendary tactician material, but it looks to me like none of the melee attacks took the Epic Prowess feat into consideration; I think you need to add one more point to each attack as a result.
- p. 74, Huma of Eldor, male civilized human fighter 6/Knight of the Crown 8: Looks like he spent 50 of 51 skill points.
- pp. 74-75, Yarus Donner, male civilized human cleric 10 of Kiri-Jolith/Knight of the Sword 10 [Clerist 1/4/8]: Looks like he spent 118 of 138 skill points, although if there was an Intelligence increase in there somewhere along the way it might be fine. However, Skills should include Survival +5 (+7 other planes) [0 ranks, +5 Wis, +2 synergy bonus from Knowledge (the planes)]. Smite evil attacks should be 3/day, not 4/day.
- p. 76, Linsha Majere, female civilized human rogue 4/fighter 6/mystic 3 of Sensitivity/Knight of the Rose 3: Flat-footed AC should be 21, not 18, due to uncanny dodge. "Disguise +6" should be followed by "(+8 acting)" due to a +2 synergy bonus from Bluff. Skills should include Survival +1 (+3 following tracks) [0 ranks, +1 Wis, +2 synergy bonus from Search].
- pp. 77-78, Jaymes Markham, male civilized human fighter 8/Knight of the Sword 1/rogue knight 3/legendary tactician 3: He shouldn't get iterative attacks with his two hand crossbows, as you still have to load them after each shot. Skills should include Disguise +2 (+4 acting) [0 ranks, +2 Cha, +2 synergy bonus from Bluff].
- pp. 103-104, Galen Nemedi, male civilized human mystic of Tyranny 6/Knight of the Skull 3/Adjudicator of the Code 5/inquisitor 3: Flat-footed AC should be 25, not 24, due to uncanny dodge. Skills should include Disguise +3 (+5 acting) [0 ranks, +3 Cha, +2 synergy bonus from Bluff]. Alphabetically, "Gather Information" should come before "Intimidate."
- p. 107, Captain Samural, male civilized human fighter 6/Knight of the Lily 1/Blood Oath archer 5: "Appraise +4" should be followed by "(+6 bows)" due to a +2 synergy bonus from Craft (bowyer). It also looks like he spent 42 of 55 skill points.
- p. 110, Baltasar Rennold, male civilized human fighter 5/Knight of the Lily 7/Vision partisan 5: He only spent 59 out of up to 100 skill points, depending on whether he had any Intelligence upgrades over the course of his career. I can't check much of his stats, given that Knight of the Lily information was left out of the book.
- pp. 111-112, Lord Ariakan, male civilized human fighter 5/Knight of the Lily 10/legendary tactician 5: +3 flaming burst unholy greatsword damage doesn't include the fire or unholy portions of the damage. Skills should include Disguise +5 (+7 acting) [0 ranks, +5 Cha, +2 synergy bonus from Bluff].
- p. 112, Steel Brightblade, male civilized human fighter 5/Knight of the Lily 5: Looks like he spent 35 of 39 skill points.
- p. 113, Mirielle Abrena, female civilized human fighter 4/mystic 6 of Law/Knight of the Skull 9: Her ranged touch attacks should be +16, not +15 (+14 BAB, +2 Dex). Skills should include Disguise +4 (+6 acting) [0 ranks, +4 Cha, +2 synergy bonus from Bluff]. The Smite Good paragraph is labeled "Smite Evil."
- p. 114, Morham Targonne, male civilized human noble 2/mystic 6 of Mentalism/Knight of the Skull 4/Adjudicator of the Code 3: Flat-footed AC should be 19, not 18, due to uncanny dodge. If BAB = +10 as stated (I'm not sure, since I don't have the mystic or Knight of the Skull info), then Grapple should be +11, not +10, due to a +1 Str bonus. Skills should include Disguise +3 (+5 acting) [0 ranks, +3 Cha, +2 synergy bonus from Bluff].
- pp. 116-117, General Dogah, male civilized human fighter 7/Knight of the Lily 8/legendary tactician 2: Skills should include Disguise +2 (+4 acting) [0 ranks, +2 Cha, +2 synergy bonus from Bluff].
- pp. 117-118, Lord Knight Theo Drawde, male civilized human fighter 5/Knight of the Lily 1/sorcerer 4/Knight of the Thorn 10: Skills should include Appraise +3 (+5 alchemical items) [0 ranks, +3 Int, +2 synergy bonus from Craft (alchemy)] and Disguise +4 (+6 acting) [0 ranks, +4 Cha, +2 synergy bonus from Bluff].
- p. 145, Typical Legion Warrior, male or female nomad human fighter 3: AC Skills should be 18, not 17 (+1 Dex, +5 armor, +2 shield). Flat-footed AC should be 17, not 16. Speed should be 20 ft., not 30 ft., due to the breastplate. Masterwork longsword attacks should be at +7 melee, not +6 (+3 BAB, +2 Str, +1 Weapon Focus, +1 masterwork). Spent 11 of 18 skill points.
- p. 145, Golane Pekonen, male civilized human fighter 5/Legion warrior 2: No "Ranged" option given despite his having a heavy crossbow listed among his possessions; there should be a line reading "Ranged heavy crossbow +7 (1d10/19-20)"
- pp. 147-148, Typical Legion Mystic, male or female civilized human mystic 3 of Community: With Wis 15, even with no ranks in either Listen or Spot, they should be at +2, not +0. AC should be 13, not 16 (-1 Dex, +4 armor). Touch AC should be 9, not 12. Flat-footed AC should be 13, not 14. Grapple should be +4, not +0 (+2 BAB, +2 Str).
- pp. 148-149, Kresna Half-Elven, male half-elf ranger 7/mystic 4 of Insight/Legion mystic 1: Flat-footed AC should be 23, not 21, due to uncanny dodge. Using Two-Weapon Fighting only grants you one attack with your off-hand weapon, so +1 handaxe attacks should be +11 melee, not +11/+6. Should have 9 feats, not just 8 (5 as a 12th-level character, plus 4 bonus ranger feats).
- p. 151, Typical Legion Sorcerer, male or female nomad human sorcerer 3: Spent 12 of 24 skill points.
- pp. 151-152, Jacinta Quickfingers, female kender bard 8/Legion sorcerer 4: As an effective Brd11 with Cha 20, she should have 5 1st-level spells/day, not 4 (3 as Brd11, +2 for having Cha 20). "Disguise +16" should be followed by "(+18 acting)" due to a +2 synergy bonus from Bluff. Also, is she "afflicted," "civilized," "nomad," or what? All of the other humanoid NPCs in this book have some kind of adjective before their racial name.
- p. 154, Typical Legion Scout, male or female civilized human rogue 3: HD should be 3, not 6. "Disguise +7" should be followed by "(+9 acting)" due to a +2 synergy bonus from Bluff. Skills should include Intimidate +3 [0 ranks, +1 Cha, +2 synergy bonus from Bluff]. Spent 48 of 54 skill points.
- pp. 154-155, Blight Thistleknot, male afflicted kender ranger 5 of Habbakuk/rogue 3/Legion scout 5: Ref should be +13, not +12 (+4 as Rgr5, +3 as Rog3, +4 as LSc5, +2 Dex). Will should be +9 (+13 against frightful presence of dragons), not +7 (+11 against frightful presence of dragons) [+1 as Rgr5, +1 as Rog3, +4 as LSc5, +3 Wis]. Masterwork light crossbow attacks should be at +14/+9 ranged, not +13/+8 (+10 BAB, +1 size, +2 Dex, +1 masterwork). +3 heavy pick attacks should be at +17/+12 melee (and +15/+10 melee with Two-Weapon Fighting), not +16/+11 (+14/+9 with TWF) [+10 BAB, +1 size, +2 Str, +3 magic weapon, +1 Weapon Focus, and -2 Two-Weapon Fighting as appropriate]. Skills should include Disguise +2 (+4 acting) [0 ranks, +2 Cha, +2 synergy bonus from Bluff]. "Survival +11" should be followed by "(+13 in aboveground natural environments)" due to a +2 synergy bonus from Knowledge (nature).
- pp. 155-156, Yanathalia "Yania," female Qualinesti elf ranger 3/sorcerer 4/Legion sorcerer 8: HD should be 15, not 12. Sorcerer Caster Level should be 11th, not 12th (Sor4 + 7 levels from LSr8 = 11). As a result, she should be able to cast only 4 5th-level spells/day, not 5, and she shouldn't be able to cast any 6th-level spells, let alone 3/day. (This also means you'll have to reassign a different spell than true seeing to be her 6th silent spell, as she can't cast true seeing yet.) Since Legion knowledge = class level + Int modifier, hers should be 15 + 3 = +18, not +19. Also, I'm not quite sure why she doesn't have an adjective ("nomad," "civilized," etc.) before her race name in her title.
- p. 156, Silver Claw, male nomadic human ranger 5/rogue 5/Legion warrior 7: Flat-footed AC should be 20, not 19, due to uncanny dodge. No Strength rating is given for his +2 shock composite longbow; assuming it's "(+2)" to match his Str 14, damage with it should be 1d8+4/×3 plus 1d6 electricity, not 1d8+2/×3 plus 1d6 electricity. Skills should include Disguise +2 (+4 acting) [0 ranks, +2 Cha, +2 synergy bonus from Bluff]. "Survival +13" should be followed by "(+15 to avoid hazards or getting lost, in aboveground natural environments, and following tracks)" due to +2 synergy bonuses from Knowledge (geography), Knowledge (nature), and Search. Feats aren't alphabetized correctly.
- p. 157, Falaius Taneek, male nomad human fighter 6/Legion warrior 2/legendary tactician 5: Touch AC should be 14, not 15 (+4 deflection from ring). Speed should be 20 ft., not 30 ft., since he's wearing a breastplate.
- p. 158, Lanther Darthassian, male nomad human rogue 8/blackguard 8 of Takhisis: Flat-footed AC should be 22, not 20, due to uncanny dodge. Ref should be +14, not +13 (+2 as Rog8, +6 as Blk8, +2 Dex, +4 Cha from Dark Blessing). Grapple should be +15, not +14 (+14 BAB, +1 Str). He should only have one each of 3rd-level and 4th-level spells prepared, not 2 each (1 as Blk8, +0 with only Wis 14). "Disguise +24" should be followed by "(+26 acting)" due to a +2 synergy bonus from Bluff. Skills should include Survival +2 (+4 following tracks) [0 ranks, +2 Wis, +2 synergy bonus from Search].
Finally, there were a few things in Knightly Orders of Ansalon that were simply cringeworthy, like (my favorite example) a pair of white dragons named "Ice" and "Freeze." To me, those names seem more appropriate in an episode of Scooby-Doo than an epic tale of knights fighting dragons for the fate of a planet. Again, I can't fault the four authors of the book for such painful naming conventions; they were stuck with what previous authors have already committed to ink. (Perhaps "carved in stone" would be a more appropriate phrase to use here, if only to denote the permanency with which such decisions last throughout the years.)
Taken as a whole, Knightly Orders of Ansalon seems to do a pretty good job of codifying the material about the three knightly orders in the Dragonlance novels, although the authors' personal creativity may have been severely hampered by the work of previous novelists. The three "flavors" of knightly orders presented in these pages might not be the best three examples of knightly orders for a generic campaign (although the Knights of Solamnia are pretty much a good "generic" knightly order, easily ported to different campaigns), but they do capture the Dragonlance-specific orders fairly well. (The lack of material on the Knights of the Lily, Knights of the Skull, and Knights of the Thorn in the Dark Knights chapter is a glaring oversight along those lines, however.) If you're looking for a book for use with knights in a Dragonlance campaign, this is definitely the book for you. If you were hoping to just use the ideas within to flesh out your own knightly orders for a homebrew campaign, you might want to think twice before forking over $35.00 of hard-earned cash, because probably only half of the book is going to be of much use to you.
I rate Knightly Orders of Ansalon as a mid-to-high "3 (Average)."
